Hat and cap.



PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

M. REDGRAVE. HAT AND GAP. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAT AND CAP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed January 26, 1905. Serial No. 242,721.

To alZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MONTAGUE REDGRAVE,

. a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New J ersey. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hats and Caps; and I do hereby declare the following to beafull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to hats and caps provided with pneumatic annular pads or cushions; and it consists in the combination with a hat or cap of an annular pneumatic pad or cushion arranged within the crown of the said article of headwear between the same and the lining, so that the inflation of the pad will expand the crown and give shape and a measure of stiffness thereto, but the emptying of the pad will reduce it to a flaccid condition and leaving the hat or cap soft and flexible, permitting it to be folded for stowing away. While inflated the pad aflords protection to the wearers head against minor accidents in traveling, provides a convenient head-cushion or pillow, and may in emergency serve as a life-preserver, either within the hat or cap or detached therefrom.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical central section of a cap embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of the same,taken from below, the cap-lining having been partly turned back out of the way. Fig. 3 represents a detail View of the annular pneumatic pad and of the lining.

A designates an ordinary soft cap, B its lining sewed thereto, and C the intervening annular hollow rubber pad, which when distended by inflation is approximately circular in cross-section at any point. This pad is provided with a rubber air-inlet tube C, similar to those ordinarily used with pneumatic tires and other inflated articles, this being closed after inflation by a sealing-cap or in any convenient way. This inlet-tube is normally hidden by the lining, but may be drawn out through a slot or opening 6 of said lining to permit inflation. As the pad expands under the outward pressure of the air pumped in, the crown of the cap is also necessarily expanded and stiffened, assuming a pleasing shape.

The pad is perfectly concealed at all times by the crown and lining of the cap and requires no additional parts nor appendages to hold or hide it. Also it permits a rim or brim to be used without the least interference of either part with the other or the slightest risk of exposing the pad to view. It will protect the wearers head from contact and jar in case of a fall on the ice in skating or a blow from a club or sand-bag, or wherever and whenever the head may be exposed to injury. The cap provided with it may be used as a pneumatic rubber cushion to sit on or as a life-preserver or an aid in swimming. If preferred, the pad may be readily torn out of the lining for either use, leaving the cap or hat independently available as head wear. After the said pad has been emptied so as to become fiat and flexible, it permits itself and the cap as a whole to be readily folded and stowed away in small compass as an ordinary soft cap. Such a pad may, however, be used with a hat or cap incapable of folding by reason of stiffness or other impediment or incapacity. It requires absolutely no change in any external part of any article of headgear with which it may be combined, as stated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An article of headwear, provided with an annular pneumatic expansible and contractible pad, having means for inflation attached thereto and arranged within the crown of said article at the periphery thereof, leaving the middle part of the crown unoccupied by said pad for ventilation and coolness substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MONTAGUE REDGRAVE.

Witnesses:

'LILLIAN B. SELBY,

HERBERT C. EMERY. 

